#McCann: #SuzannePilley Murder - David Gilroy found guilty of murdering his former lover Suzanne Pilley, whose body has never been found

Jury found him guilty of the murder of his former girlfriend, whose body has never been found.

A man has been found guilty of murdering missing bookkeeper Suzanne Pilley before burying her body in rural woodland.

David Gilroy, 49, was found guilty by a jury at the High Court in Edinburgh on Thursday. He was also found guilty of attempting to defeat the ends of justice.

The jury of eight men and seven women took three days to return the verdict. Ms Pilley's family started to cry in the public gallery as the verdict was delivered. There was no visible reaction from Gilroy or his wife Andrea.

The court was told the murderer had been sacked from his job at Infrastructure Management Limited (IML), where he worked with Ms Pilley, on July 1, 2010, shortly after he was charged.

Ms Pilley, 38, went missing on her way to work in Edinburgh city centre on May 4, 2010. She was captured on CCTV making her way to the offices of IML on Thistle Street but never arrived at her desk.

Gilroy lured his former girlfriend into the basement of the office building before murdering her "by means unknown". He then hid her body while he went to pick up his car and put her in the boot.

The day after the murder, Gilroy travelled up to Lochgilphead and buried Ms Pilley’s body somewhere in rural Argyll. Her body has never been found.

He said: "It’s been a considerable amount of work for both Lothian and Borders Police and the Crown Office, work that’s been going on for close to two years now."

DS Flannigan went on to say that Lothian and Borders Police would do everything they could to find Ms Pilley’s body.

He said: "We won’t forget that whilst we recognise the significant step for the Pilley family today in the guilty verdict, Suzanne remains missing. We have not been able to recover Suzanne’s body and that will be hugely significant. I can say the Pilley family are relieved that Suzanne has had justice today."

District Procurator Fiscal for Edinburgh Stephen McGowan said: "David Gilroy’s actions in the immediate aftermath of the killing of Suzanne when he took her body to Argyll show someone who is fairly cold and calculating in his actions."